Posted by shadowtom on July 12, 2016, at 1:28:10
In reply to 21st century US making me crazy, posted by Christ_empowered on July 9, 2016, at 19:35:24
I haven't posted to these forums in a while, but I did want to come back here real quickly to say that I share many of the feelings and observations that you put forth in this post. I don't at all mean to put any individual, group, or culture down when I say this, but I think that our health as a species is unquestionably in a state of serious and progressive decline. The mental and physical health conditions that those of us who use this site live with could be said to be one symptom of the sickness that afflicts our collective humanity, but I think that pretty much anyone who pays any attention to the news these days knows that this "symptom" that I mentioned is far from the only one.
In our attempts to do everything faster and more easily and to outperform one another, we've created a society where many of us have become very much separated from both the natural world that we live in and one another; where some of the solutions that we've come up with to our problems are creating more problems (which then create even more problems, creating a vicious cycle); where we spend much of the time that we used to be spending doing things that machines now do for us using different types of machines where we interact with one another in a much less personal manner than we used to and where we have an increased tendency to pay attention only to the types of ideas and messages that we want to pay attention to; where we seem to pay less attention to the core messages behind many of our religious belief systems that focus on love and respect for our fellow humans, for ourselves, and for nature and the divine; and where the desires of our corporate leaders to increase profits have oftentimes come at the expense of our planet, the other life forms on this planet, and much of the human life on this planet (well, probably all of it, at least to an extent). I could go on, but in a nutshell, I think that we've created a way of life that in many ways seems to be unsustainable -- where we're destroying the environment that we need for our health and our survival little by little, and where we're doing serious damage to one another economically, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
As you said, rage reigns supreme, and the future looks bleak, but I think that we can turn things around. Somehow though, I think that repairing the damage that we've endured is something that we'll be most successful at if we rise above the cycle of hurt, rage, destruction, unkindness, and disconnection from nature and one another that we've found ourselves in. My point in writing this post is not to point fingers at anyone or to judge anyone for any part that they might have played in bringing about the problems that I've mentioned here. God knows that the extent to which I've contributed to many of the problems that I've identified here is far from small, and the same is probably true for many of us, but judging one another and judging ourselves is only going to hold us back from making the changes that we need to make to bring about the more peaceful, prosperous, healthy, and loving group of human communities that we're capable of becoming. We need to forgive one another and work together to create the kind of future that we'd all like to see.
Tom (the former Tomatheus)
"Maybe someday
We'll figure all this out
We'll put an end to all our doubt
Try to find a way to just feel better now"- Rob Thomas
poster:shadowtom
thread:1090319
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20160609/msgs/1090415.html